Children and group time

[Jellyfish]

Hello, I have just started in childcare as a room leader in a preschool room. I have 24 children from 3 to 5, some going to school next year some not. Some do not speak English some are developmentally challenged aswel. Also the room seems to be the crossover room with alot of children that have challenging behaviours. My question is how can I keep 4 children happy who are 3 or just turned 4 during group time. They do not want to be a part of group time. When you ask them to join in they become deviant and say No and that sets a very non helpful tone for the whole day. Please need help want to keep the 4 boys motivated without forcing them to do group time. Want to be gentle as I think the more I try to control them the more resilliant they become.

[Lorina]

It's good you're trying not to fore group time upon them. I mean, if they don't want to be involved then that's their choice. During this time, you can set up a couple of quiet activities that they can do, while you do group time. So, maybe you can have a few puzzles and books. Have it set up near where you are doing group time so they can still "listen" to what is going on even though they may not want to be involved. You could also try and get them involved to make them want to be part of the group time. So, one of the children can choose a story which you can read during group time, another can help you set up by getting the calender ready (or what ever you use)... Maybe if they help they will want to be in group time themselves.

I wrote an article on group time. This will give you some ideas on what to during group time, for preschoolers and strategies to help you during group time:

Group Time With Children In Childcare

Hope this helps,

,
Lorina

[RoseRed123]

Hi Lorina...I wondered if you do set up quiet activities for the children who don't want to participate; what do you do if all the other children want to do those activities as well and not sit at group time? How can you prevent this?

[Lorina]

With quiet activities that you do set up try to keep it the same each day so it's not that entertaining and in the end the children would rather participate in group time rather than quiet activities. So, you could do something like puzzles... You can do the same puzzles each day.... After awhile it's going to get pretty boring for the children not wanting to do group time. Even if you only have 3 children for group time then so be it... Do something interesting that will get the other children interested. If you notice a child looking over to you while they are doing quiet activities during group time get them involved for e.g. "Toby, come and join us on the mat so you can hear the story better" etc. Since it may be new to your group to not force group time children would rather try the alternative but after a week they will get bored of doing the same thing and join you for group time instead. The thing is, keep group time exciting, try different things, sing new songs, do puppets, keep it fresh and the children will rather join you...

,
Lorina

[Audrey89]

Thanks for sharing this. Goods points to note down for preschool activities.

[Jharve23484]

Hi I am just wondering what do you do if you have children constantly saying they have to go to the toilet or that they are thirsty during group time or just continuously make noises or get in each other's faces during group-time. I know that the toilet and drink thing is just an excuse to get up but I can't say no in case they really do have to go to the toilet and it is just beyond frustrating and distracting

[Lorina]

Maybe you should only do group times for the children that are interested...

.
Lorina